Rockin the Subburbs

The Waltz for Venus new EP Finally, the Beginning's End is now available ONLINE for purchase. See our main MySpace page or www.waltzforvenus.com to pick up the album for only $5 (plus shipping).

Just for the record, once again, I'm not playing on this album as I came into the band after the recording process, but I'm super proud of it none-the-less. Rawk!

Pan's Labyrinth

I finally saw Pan's Labyrinth (or more appropriately translated, The Labyrinth of the Faun) this weekend. A fantastic, yet grim and gruesome fairy tale for adults. If you're squeamish at all about violence, don't see this. But if you can stand it, this is a enchanted magical tale. For really well written reviews from fellow bloggers...

LOVED IT (by Jon)-or- HATED IT (by Darrell)

Your Daddy's WHAT?

A couple weeks ago, our daughter's day care provider pulled me aside and very blushingly said, "I don't want to embarrass you, but I did want to let you know that Kalli was talking about her daddy's pee-wee today."

I busted into laughter.

Rrrrrrrrr-------- (rewind!)

The truth of the matter is Kalli had grown quite fond of my DVD copy of Pee-Wee's Big Adventure - which she knows is MINE - thereby: "daddy's Pee-Wee."

Upon hearing the truth of the situation, the babysitter totally cracked up. Between chuckles she admitted, "I even told her that was something we probably shouldn't talk about. And then this other boy start talking about HIS daddy's butt..."

So, so much is lost in translation.

(By the way, since that day I've told Kalli that the DVD is now hers. She can talk about her own Pee-Wee all she wants.)

Ugh...

Sometimes people use the phrase "I was up all night" meaning I woke up a lot last night.

Kalli was puking, whiny and sick from 10pm to about 5am this morning.

Our family literally WAS up all night.

u f/s..nre0- a=

(sorry, that was my weary head hitting the keyboard)

Family Mii

The Nintendo Wii gaming system allows you to create little avatar personas to be used in a number of its games. These little mini-people are called "Miis" and I've created about 30 of them, including all of our extended family and several celebrities. Take a gander at Amy, Kalli and I. Amy's is a bit generic and needs a little work, but Kalli's and mine are spot-on.

On Life and Biscuits

►::STATUS:: Optimistic
♫::LISTENING TO:: "Physical Cities" by The Bad Plus

I am finally finishing up Jack Kornfield's book "After the Ecstasy, the Laundry." One of my favorite quotations from the book actually isn't from Mr. Kornfield, but rather a section from the writing of Zen teacher Edward Espe Brown:

"When I first started cooking at Tassajara, I had a problem. I couldn't get my biscuits to come out the way they were supposed to. I'd follow a recipe and try variations, but nothing worked. These biscuits just didn't measure up.

Growing up I had made two kinds of biscuits. One was from Bisquick and the other from Pillsbury. For the Bisquick you added milk in the mix and then blobbed the dough in spoonfuls onto the pan - you didn't even need to roll them out. The biscuits from Pillsbury came in kind of a cardboard can. You rapped the can on the corner of the counter and it popped open. Then you twisted the can open more, put the premade biscuits on a pan, and baked them. I really liked those Pillsbury biscuits. Isn't that what biscuits should taste like? Mine weren't coming out right.

It's wonderful and amazing the ideas we get about what biscuits should taste like, or what a life should look like. Compared to what? Canned biscuits from Pillsbury? Leave it to Beaver? People who ate my biscuits would extol their virtues, eating one after another, but to me these perfectly good biscuits just weren't right. Finally one day came a shifting-into-place, an awakening. "Not right" compared to what? Oh, my word, I'd been trying to make canned Pillsbury biscuits! Then came an exquisite moment of actually tasting my biscuits without comparing them to some previously hidden standard. They were wheaty, flaky, buttery, sunny, earthy, real. They were incomparably alive - in fact, much more satisfying than any in memory.

These occasions can be so stunning, so liberating, these moments when you realize your life is just fine as it is, thank you. Only the insidious comparison to a beautifully prepared, beautifully packaged product made it seem insufficient. Trying to produce a biscuit - a life - with no dirty bowls, no messy feelings, no depression, no anger, was frustrating. Then savoring, actually tasting the present moment of experience - how much more complex and multifaceted. How unfathomable.

As Zen students we spend years trying to make it look right, trying to cover the faults, conceal the messes. We knew what the Bisquick Zen student looked like: calm, buoyant, cheerful, energetic, deep, profound. Our motto, as one of my friends said, was, "looking good." We've all done it, trying to look good as a husband, a wife or parent. Trying to attain perfection. Trying to make Pillsbury biscuits.

Well, to heck with it, I say. Wake up and smell the coffee. How about some good old home cooking, the biscuits of today."

"It's a Date."

Yahoo for last night's season finale of The Office. I actually got goosebumps at the very end. Sad, but oh so true.

Sticky Fingers

My wife is being punished for her klepto, beer-stealing ways by Newton's Third Law, Karma, or some combination of the two.

Twice in the last few months she has taken one of my quality beers (without asking) and made food out of it.

First it was bratwurst boiled in - get this - Young's Double Chocolate Stout. Wow.

Now, tonight, it was Beef Stew, marinated in a bitter, pungent IPA - which, as you can tell by her post - she didn't care much for.

It was either Jesus or Elmo that said, "You reap what you sew." Ya, take that, ye Bogarter of Beers.

0-(Yes, ZERO)-Emissions Car

"General Motors made history yesterday as its Chevy Sequel became the first electric fuel cell vehicle to achieve 300 miles on one tank of hydrogen, in and out of traffic on public roads, while producing zero emissions."

"'With this drive, General Motors has reached an important milestone,' said Larry Burns, GM vice president, research & development and strategic planning. 'And we did it while producing zero emissions, as a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle only emits water.'"

(...Read the rest of the article over at Good News Network...)

WFV News

1.) The new Waltz for Venus CD - "Finally, the Beginning's End" - has arrived in the mail. They recorded this album before I joined the group, but I am very proud of it nonetheless. I'll post a link in a few days if anyone would like to pick up a copy.

2.) We're working with a music promotions and distribution company to do a national Radio campaign this month. The new EP will be going out to a number of stations across the country and will have the chance to rip up the College Radio charts. The company that is helping us with this is also the one that got a WFV song licensed for play on MTV's "My Super Sweet Sixteen" so we know there's even more opportunities that will pop up this year (especially since this album is significantly more polished and professional than the last).

3.) We've already begun writing and making plans for the next EP and instead of working on one long album, we are planning on releasing 5-EPs (short albums) each with its own theme, and then packaging them all together as a box set at the end of the series.

"Who am I" Video Meditation

For the last several years I have been blessed to enjoy hours upon hours of recording talks from Alan Watts. I realized I had never seen actual video of the old chap, so I decided to look him up on YouTube. While I did find some video lectures, what struck me most was a fantastic video meditation of images coupled with one of Alan's lectures. I believe one could watch this every day for a thousand years and be in awe of it every time. Here is "Who Am I?":

Some Humor for Your Weekend

Let's start your weekend off right with a good laugh. Enjoy this - one of the funniest videos on the web right now...

Nada te turbe

Lines written in the breviary of Saint Theresa of Avila:

Nada te turbe,
Let nothing disturb you,
Nada te espante,
Nothing frighten you,
Todo se pasa,
All is passing,
Dios no se muda,
God does not change,
La paciencia
Patience
Todo lo alcanza;
Attains to all;
Quien a Dios tiene
One who holds to God
Nada le falta:
Lacks nothing:
Solo Dios basta.
God alone is enough.

(As translated by John S. Dunne in The Homing Spirit)

Score: My Wife Rules

On Sunday I celebrate the big 2-8 birthday. My awesome wife, who's always been excellent with gifts, has totally outdone herself this year.

If you're not aware, the Nintendo Wii systems are just not available. Each store gets 2-3 each week, or sometimes month, and then they're gone within 5 minutes. The supply is not even close to meeting demand.

But my wife is a master and did a little flirting with the guy and was able to have him hold one back for her.

And I got a Wii... for my birthday... and that rules. (and Lord, is it fun)

I may be 28 on Sunday, but I'm still a kid who plays video games. So... there you have it.

Have a great weekend, everyone!